View full sizeAndrew Mills/The Star-LedgerAmerican gymnist Jordyn Wieber waits for her turn on the uneven bars as Team USA wins the gold medal in the women's team gymnastics finals at the 2012 London Olympics.

LONDON – They chanted as they streamed into the North Greenwich tube station, still buzzing from a gold-medal performance that will stand as one of the most dominant in Olympic gymnastics history.

"Wieber fever! Wieber fever! Wieber fever!"

This was the scene just outside of the gymnastics venue Tuesday night: 21 family and friends of U.S. star Jordyn Wieber, wearing T-shirts that announced their relationship to the team’s backbone – “Jo’s Aunt” or “Jo’s BFF,” they read – embarking on what figured to be a long night celebrating.

Just two days earlier, they had suffered along with Wieber as she failed to qualify for the individual finals, watching the devastated world champion weep as she left the arena floor.

But now, as her mother Rita watched the stars-and-stripes rise to the arena rafters, there were no tears. Just joy.

“I only cry when I’m sad, not when I’m happy,” said Rita Wieber, the gymnast’s mother. “I did a lot of crying the last few days, but not tonight.”

Team USA and Wieber had just trounced the world, transforming the floor exercise into an end zone dance with sparkles and ponytails. They turned what is usually a competition with down-to-the-final moment drama into a blowout with twists and somersaults.

The U.S. gymnasts had won their gold medals wrapped up heading into the final event in the team competition. They knew it. The crowd at the North Greenwich Arena knew it. The second-place Russians? They were already hugging each other in tears, resigned to their silver consolation prizes.

A mediocre floor exercise in the final event would have given the Americans a victory, but let history show that there was nothing mediocre about the best gymnastics team the U.S. has ever sent to an Olympics.

So they added three perfect routines to cap an all-time great performance, leaving no doubt about their dominance. The final score was 183.596 to 178.530, and if you think that looks pretty close considering the size of the numbers, let coach John Geddert set you straight:

“Five points in a sport of tenths?” he said. “That’s the good old-fashioned shed whupping.”

And it was, from start to finish. They are so young and so tiny that gymnasts are often unfairly portrayed as a fragile group. Maybe last night will shatter that perception, once and for all.

Because this team was confident, aggressive and cutthroat. They might have been smiling on the outside, but they marched here fully expecting this result last night, a Dream Team in leotards.

Somebody asked McKayla Maroney if she was surprised by the margin of victory, and she practically scoffed. “Um, we did that at world championships,” she said, “so I knew it was possible.”

This is the first time Team USA had won gold in this event since 1996 – so long ago that Kerri Strug, the hero who Bela Karolyi famously carried off the mat, is almost 35. It had been a long drought for a nation that probably loves this sport more than any other in the Games.

Karolyi was there Tuesday, of course, support his wife Martha, the current team director. The man with the wide moustache did not hesitate when asked if the current group is better than first U.S. team to win gold 16 years ago.

“Absolutely, it is better!” Bela bellowed. “This is the strongest team we’ve ever put together. This is a strong, more prepared, united team. It has all the ingredients a great team has to have.”

It proved that from the start. This was the last shot for Wieber in these Games, and she nailed her landing with a 15.933 score on her tone-setting vault. The next American, Gabby Douglas, topped that with a 15.966, and then came the Team USA’s vault assassin.

Maroney scored a ridiculous 16.233 to give the Americans a lead, just minutes into the event, that it would never relent. Karolyi called it simply the best vault ever, while Geddert somehow went a step further.

“They should rename the vault,” he said. “They should call it the Maroney.”

The next two hours felt more like a coronation. The Americans held their own on the uneven bars and then aced the balance beam. When the Russians badly botched their floor exercises, the end was nothing more than an American dance show.

The gymnasts still gathered near the mats, looking up at the scoreboard for the confirmation, until they posted Alexandra Raisman’s score. It was a 15.300, the best of the night. Of course.

“At that point, we knew,” Wieber said. “But it’s nice to see your country move into the first position.”

So they cried and hugged, and moments later, said all the polite things in their squeaky voices. Yes, they are small and cute, but this is the night that proved they are hardly fragile.

They were the best and they knew it. This was a good old-fashioned shed whupping for the entire world to see, the celebration spilling into the London night. Wieber fever, indeed.